Adiós, Sr. Keenan

I wish I could say I was surprised at the news of Mike Keenan's dismissal as head coach of the Florida Panthers. After all, GM Rick Dudley, who is expected to name himself coach later today, gave Keenan a pretty good signal the organization was running out of patience when it started replacing Keenan's assistant coaches last season.

It probably hasn't helped that cross-state rival Tampa Bay is off to the best start in its history, and that Keenan has consistently been unable to show any progress with a young and talented squad that ought to at least be challenging for the lead in a consistenly inconsistent Southeast Division. And with the Southeast completely up for grabs this year (Tampa Bay's early success nothwithstanding), as in any other, it's easy to see how firing the coach to light a fire under your team may well be the boost it needs to slip into the playoffs.

What is puzzling is the fact that Keenan hasn't been able to recreate the success he enjoyed in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York (three squads he took to the Stanley Cup Finals), seemingly anywhere else. Perhaps the efforts of the draconian taskmaster with a penchant for blowing up whatever roster he's handed has run out of steam?

Despite this, there's little doubt that Keenan will end up somewhere else, perhaps even before the end of the season. Then again, it might do him some good to step back, take a broadcasting job (ESPN would probably hire an ex-Rangers coach in a New York minute), and get some distance from the game before he tries to return once again.

Eric 11:46 AM

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Tracked on November 9, 2003 05:00 PM